GLOBAL MARKETS-US dollar hits 3-year low, gold at record peak

                                
 * Gold posts fresh life-time high, silver at 31-year peak
                                
 * U.S. dollar hits 3-year low, charts point to record low
                                
 * Strong U.S., European corporate earnings boost equities
                                
 (Updates market action, changes dateline, previous London)
                                
 NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar tumbled to a
three-year low on Thursday against major currencies and gold
surged to a new high as investors piled into investments that
are less reliant on the U.S. economy.
                                
 Upbeat U.S. and European corporate earnings propelled world
stocks to a 33-month high. Several U.S. bellwether stocks
jumped after strong earnings but many of those companies have
significant sales around the world.
                                
 "Strong earnings reports from a lot of companies have
driven risk appetite and we have seen huge moves in all dollar
crosses, but it would be surprising if we didn't see some
profit-taking," said Richard Falkenhall, currency strategist at
SEB in Stockholm.
                                
 Investor focus has shifted to solid U.S. and European
corporate earnings and signs the global economy is chugging
along even as the Federal Reserve remains cautious about when
it will start to unwind its super-loose policy, offsetting
concerns over sovereign debt problems on both sides of the
Atlantic.
                                
 This has emboldened investors to pile back into riskier
assets, though some analysts advised caution as worries about
the euro zone debt crisis and problems in the supply chain
following the Japanese earthquake stayed in the background.
                                
 With little chance of Fed raising interest rates this year,
the dollar index <.DXY> fell 0.47 percent to 74.020 after
falling to 73.735, its lowest level since August 2008.
Technical charts suggested it could move towards a record low
of 70.698 hit earlier that year. [FRX]
                                
 The weak greenback helped push spot gold <XAU=> to another
record high at $1,508.75 an ounce. Spot silver <XAG=> soared to
a 31-year high at $46.24 an ounce. [GOL/]
                                
 The rally in precious metals was also seen in worldwide
stock markets.
                                
 The MSCI All-Country World Index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.5
percent to a high of 350.34, last seen in July 2008. The index
has risen around 6 percent so far this year.
                                
 The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares
was up 0.5 percent, while Wall Street stocks <.DJI> <.SPX>
<.IXIC> opened higher. [US/]
                                
 Asian stocks rose to their highest level since January 2008
with Japan's Nikkei <.N225> closing up 0.8 percent.
                                
 Oil prices in London turned negative after a
weaker-than-expected reading on U.S. jobless claims stoked
worries over energy demand. ICE Brent June crude <LCOM1> had
risen above $124 a barrel earlier on the weakness in the dollar
and a drop in U.S. stockpiles. [O/R]
                                
 (Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York; Emelia
Sithole-Matarise, Jessica Mortimer, Atul Prakash and Vikram
Subhedar in London)